BHUBANESWAR: The BJD on Wednesday demanded a CBI probe into the rape of a 17-year-old girl for which police had arrested a fake homeopathy doctor.
At a media conference here, the regional party alleged that accused Bhabani Sankar Das is a well-known BJP leader of Ganjam district and served as Berhampur city president of BJP and Ganjam district president of the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP). The fake doctor holds the post of Ganjam district president of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, the labour wing of the BJP, the BJD said.
Jointly addressing the media, BJD leaders Snehangini Chhuria, Sharmistha Sethi and Lopamudra Baxipatra claimed Das has close links with several senior BJP leaders including ministers.
The BJD leaders said the accused ran a clinic Vajpayee Arogyadham in Berhampur and administered intoxicants to the minor before raping her. They said more such sexual assaults may have taken place as the clinic was running for a long time.
Targeting the chief minister for his silence on incidence of crimes against women, the BJD demanded that the case be handed over to the CBI for a thorough investigation. The police were initially reluctant to register a case but forced to do so after the victim’s family threatened to go public, they added.
Meanwhile, members of the Biju Yuva Janata Dal and Biju Chhatra Janata Dal held a state-wide agitation on the day protesting the increasing crimes against women in the state. Members of the student and youth wings of the regional party boycotted classes in colleges, held demonstrations and burnt effigies protesting the rise in atrocities against women, including the gangrape of a 20-year-old college student at Gopalpur beach in Ganjam district earlier this month.
Besides Utkal University and other colleges in Bhubaneswar, the activists blocked roads and staged protests in Cuttack, Puri, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Balasore, Koraput, Sambalpur and other districts.